I don’t like being on the roads on a Bank Holiday, never mind fishing, it is always so busy, but I have got to take every opportunity that I can at the moment, so today I travelled to my favourite little pond in Wessex.

I fished again in my favourite swim having a big lilly bed to the right, and a smaller lilly bed to the left. The boss has put some bark chippings here too which is great keeping things un-muddy. I baited up heavily and as neatly as I could to the right, and only very lightly to my left with the intention of alternately fishing them both. The weather had cooled a lot since the Sunday and I was not that hopeful for a Tench, but it was still nice being here. I had a good Roach really quickly from the right hand swim and I thought, here we go it’s going to be Roach all day now, but no. Everything went quiet. I had arrived about two-ish, and now at three o’clock with overcast skies I thought even I should be catching by now, but nothing. Time went on and I cast around looking for a bite. There were not many signs of feeding either. There’s a little weed to the left but this can be seen when the sun comes out. Here I cast and slowly reeled my float in as close as I dare the the left hand lilies. Boom!!!! the float zipped away resulting in a little Crucian which I was enthralled at. The wind whipped round from all directions and the rod remained straight for some time. I retired to the van and collected my kettle.

After my tea things changed. fishing in the right hand swim as close as I dare to the lilies I started to catch. Oddly enough, I never caught a single fish from the centre heavily baited spot, but as I cast just beyond it, or to the sides of it, I began to catch. After catching in the right hand swim I would leave it alone and cast to the left, returning after 20-30 minutes. Later I found a sweet spot just beyond my baited area, it was a little far for my poor Wallis casting skills, but I got there in the end and missed most bites but caught a number of Crucians (maybe 10+) until the Owls were heard and the bats emerged.